With both teams struggling to get anything going in the fourth quarter, the Heat scratched out a 95-89 victory over the Indiana Pacers Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat (9-17) have won two in a row at home for the first time this season.

Miami outscored the Pacers 17-10 in the fourth quarter as the teams combined to go 13-of-38 over the final 12 minutes. Indiana (13-13) went 7:25 without a point, including the first 6:13 of the fourth quarter and was scoreless in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the game.

“I guess that’s what you could expect with a Heat, Pacers game regardless of who the faces are,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It was good to see us grind out another one on a close one in the fourth quarter. They missed a couple but you could see our level of intensity was up so at least we were contesting shots, scrambling for rebounds, loose balls.”

Hassan Whiteside led the Heat with 26 points, 22 rebounds and two blocks. Miami overcame a rare off night from Goran Dragic, who finished with 11 points in 4-of-15 shooting.

Here are our five takeaways.

20-20 vision: Hassan Whiteside was one rebound shy of 20 points and 20 rebounds entering the fourth quarter. He started the quarter on the bench and then hit the milestone and then some. Whiteside now has two games with at least 20 and 20 this season, the other coming Nov. 10 against the Bulls when had exactly 20 and 20. Whiteside had gone three consecutive games without a double-double before posting 17 points and 16 rebounds Monday against Washington.

“He was dialed in,” Spoelstra said. “When he’s playing at a high level we’re a completely different basketball team and it’s obvious for everybody to see. That’s a big responsibility and that’s what great players want, they want to shoulder that burden. He was obviously all over the place tonight.”

Bench comes through again: The Heat finished the tight game with just two starters – Whiteside and Goran – on the court and three reserves – Tyler Johnson, James Johnson and Josh Richardson. The bench gave Miami 43 points; 15 from Tyler Johnson and 14 from James Johnson. James Johnson once again spent a good amount of time playing center in the fourth quarter.

“Our team doesn’t get too much into the starting nonsense,” Richardson said. “We come off the bench, we get in there and we know we have to bring a spark to the game.”

Winslow returns: The Heat’s second year forward entered the game with 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter, his first action since he was shut down Nov. 15 because of a sprained left wrist, missing 16 games. He played the entire second quarter and finished with just two points in 21 minutes, shooting 1-of-5 from the floor and missing both of his free throws. Winslow played with black tape around his wrist.

“He gives us another physical presence, defender, play maker,” Spoelstra said. “You put him in different areas of the floor and he’ll find a way to make an impact. As long as he’s out there. He’ll get better, he’ll get in rhythm.”

Rotation, rotation, rotation: For the first time this season the Heat had more than 12 available players. Spoelstra was asked how he is going to handle having so many bodies. “I’ll try to stabilize it as much as I possibly can from the seat I’m in but frankly we’re going to go with whatever is working,” he said. “It may be a different rotation, different games that work. We’ll see how it works out.”

Spoelstra used primarily a nine-man rotation against the Pacers with Winslow joining Richardson, Tyler and James Johnson for the majority of the minutes off the bench.

Taming the turnovers: With its limitations offensively, the one thing Miami must do to give itself a chance is protect the ball. The Heat had 10 turnovers in the first 9:47 of the game Wednesday, three fewer than their average entering the game, before they started taking care of the ball. Miami then had five the rest of game.

“We want to win like that,” Dragic said. “It was not pretty. I feel like the whole game was a lot of turnovers. When it mattered we locked down. They’re a good defensive team. They’re going to pack the paint, they’re really good with their hands. We did a better job in the second half.”

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